When Sachin Tendulkar wore a floppy hat to hide his skin allergy

Sachin Tendulkar made quite a style statement on the cricket field during the last few years of his playing career with his floppy hat. However, very few people would know that he started wearing it during the 2007-08 tour of Australia to hide a skin allergy and prevent his face from coming into direct contact with harsh sunlight.

This story was narrated on Sportskeeda’s video show SK Tales. During India's tour of Australia 2007-08, the Indian team flew to Australia via Singapore. During the halt for a few hours in Singapore, the players decided to kill time by shopping.

Tendulkar and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh purchased quite a few moisturizing creams, perhaps thinking that the rough weather in Australia could cause wear and tear on their skin.

The cream worked well for the initial few days and the benefits were being felt by both players. However, one day, Tendulkar, who had retired to bed after applying the moisturizing cream, woke up in the middle of the night as he felt a burning sensation on his face, which only got worse by morning.

He remembered covering his face with a towel the previous day during a massage. He felt it could be a side-effect of the detergent on the towel.

Tendulkar decided to apply more moisturizer. He was under the impression that it would cool down the inflammation. But it soon became worse. Since Bhajji wasn’t facing a similar issue with the cream, the Master Blaster couldn’t figure out what was the actual reason behind his skin inflammation.

He needed instant relief as a Test match was to be played in Sydney in a few days’ time. The great batter immediately consulted a skin specialist, who recommended a remedial cream. With his face turned red, the Indian legend was embarrassed to go out in public. He would hide behind a floppy hat and sunglasses, a style that later became his trademark.

Thankfully, the ointment helped the Mumbai batter to recover swifty and he even scored a hundred in the Test. But during the five days of the match, he would apply extra coatings of zinc sunscreen to make sure the scars weren’t visible. By the end of this Test, in his own words, he again started to look like a human!

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Sachin Tendulkar’s performance during the 2007-08 Australia tour

Although India lost the controversial Test series, which was marred by Monkeygate and poor umpiring, Tendulkar was the leading run-scorer with 493 runs in four matches at an average of 70.42 with two hundreds and two fifties.

He was the second-leading run-scorer in the tri-series, scoring 399 runs in 10 games at an average of 44.33. The legend top-scored for India in both the finals, scoring an 117* in Sydney and 91 in Brisbane. India thus clinched the tri-series by virtue of winning the best-of-three finals against Australia 2-0.